Tiger Woods bought out of jail and into the passenger seat of a darkish SUV, his face as vacant as his mug shot as he was pushed away to a future once more crammed with a lot uncertainty.
The subsequent step legally is dealing with prices of driving whereas intoxicated, injury to property and refusal to undergo a urine check, which led to him spending eight hours on Friday within the Martin County jail some 15 miles from his dwelling on Jupiter Island, Florida.
His supervisor at Excel Sports activities, Mark Steinberg, didn’t reply to a request for remark Saturday on Woods’ arrest.
As for golf, this comes at a nasty time for the game’s most influential participant.
Woods had mentioned earlier within the week he was making an attempt to get in form for the Masters on April 9-12, although that was trying unlikely. He turned 50 on the finish of final 12 months. “This physique, it doesn’t get better prefer it did when it was 24, 25,” Woods mentioned earlier this week.
He additionally was days away from a call on whether or not to be the following U.S. Ryder Cup captain for the 2027 matches in Eire. Two officers from the PGA of America didn’t instantly return telephone calls from The Related Press in search of remark.
And on April 5, he’s scheduled to be in Augusta, Georgia, with Masters chairman Fred Ridley to have a good time a challenge at ‘The Patch’, the nickname of a municipal golf course the place Woods’ design crew created a brief course to go together with a significant improve to the general public course.
Woods is also the central determine as chairman of the Future Competitors Committee that’s reshaping the PGA Tour mannequin of tournaments. Tour CEO Brian Rolapp predicted significant progress this summer time. The PGA Tour declined to touch upon Woods’ arrest.
Now all the pieces is on maintain whereas Woods types by his second arrest within the final 9 years, and his fourth automobile crash courting to 2009.
Woods waited till the summer time of 2024 earlier than deciding towards being Ryder Cup captain for the 2025 matches in New York. The Related Press reported in February the PGA of America had a gentle deadline of the tip of March for him to determine this time.
The PGA of America already is beneath scrutiny due to the unruly fan habits at Bethpage Park final September, and this isn’t a time for an additional misstep. One individual with information of the method mentioned the PGA of America has a backup plan of 4 potential candidates for the Ryder Cup committee to assessment if Woods declines — or if the PGA of America strikes on.
Martin County Sheriff John Budensiek mentioned Woods’ Land Rover was going at a “excessive velocity” when it clipped the trailer of a stress cleansing truck and flipped on its aspect. Woods was not damage and climbed out by the passenger window. The driving force of the truck was not injured, both.
“Had there been anyone transferring in the wrong way, we’d not be having a dialog saying there have been no accidents,” Budensiek mentioned. “This might’ve been loads worse.”
Budensiek mentioned investigators on the scene consider Woods had taken some sort of remedy or drug. He described Woods as torpid and mentioned the golfer agreed to a breath check that confirmed “triple zeroes” — no signal of alcohol. By declining the urine check, the sheriff mentioned, officers won’t ever get “definitive outcomes” about what induced the impairment.
This picture supplied by the Martin County Sheriff’s Workplace exhibits skid marks close to the overturned automobile in a rollover crash which concerned Tiger Woods in Jupiter Island.
| Picture Credit score:
AP
This picture supplied by the Martin County Sheriff’s Workplace exhibits skid marks close to the overturned automobile in a rollover crash which concerned Tiger Woods in Jupiter Island.
| Picture Credit score:
AP
That was constant along with his 2017 arrest on a DUI cost in Florida, when Woods was discovered asleep behind the wheel of a automobile with the engine operating, the correct blinker on, two flat tires and lightweight injury to the driving force’s aspect.
Woods mentioned it was a nasty mixture of remedy. Toxicology stories later revealed the lively ingredient for marijuana, two painkillers, a sleep drug and an anti-anxiety drug. There was no alcohol.
The ache remedy has been commonplace fare for golf’s most celebrated — and wounded — participant.
After 4 knee surgical procedures — the final one every week after he gained the U.S. Open with shredded knee ligaments and two stress fractures — Woods had 4 again surgical procedures in 4 years (2014 by 2017) solely to return to win the Masters in 2019 in one among golf’s most astonishing comebacks.
After which got here probably the most critical crash of all, in February 2021. His SUV was going 84 to 87 mph (135 to 140 kph) in an space with a velocity restrict of 45 mph (72 kph) when it veered off a coastal highway within the Los Angeles suburbs, rolled down a hill and smacked right into a tree.
He was not cited and Los Angeles authorities didn’t search a warrant for blood samples. The accidents to his proper leg and ankle have been in depth — Woods later mentioned amputation was thought of — and it was outstanding he even returned to enjoying.
Woods has by no means been the identical as a golfer since that accident. He has performed 11 tournaments within the 5 years since that crash. Of the 4 occasions he completed 72 holes, he hasn’t been nearer than 16 pictures of the winner. He shares the PGA Tour’s all-time report with 82 wins.
However he stays an enormous draw. Woods determined to compete Tuesday evening within the finals of his indoor TGL league, and viewership spiked to almost 1 million, the second-highest ranking behind Woods making his TGL debut.
He made his public debut at age two on ‘The Mike Douglas Present’ and has been within the highlight ever since, setting information which can be seemingly by no means to be damaged. He stays a central determine in golf to at the present time, and the scrutiny is as nice as ever with a lot on his plate.
Revealed on Mar 29, 2026